Celebrate the freedom to read with The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Posted on June 9, 2012 by nobles

Last week was the annual Banned Books Week, sponsored by the American Library Association, celebrating the freedom to read.

One of the most frequently banned books is The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. This books has been banned or challenged for many reasons including, “drugs, homosexuality, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit, suicide, unsuited to age group [and being] anti-family.” Other books that have been banned or challenged for these same reasons include:

• The Great Gatsby, by F.  Scott Fitzgerald
• The Catcher in the Rye, by JD Salinger
• The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
• To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
• The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
• Beloved, by Toni Morrison
• The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
• 1984, by George Orwell
• Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
• Catch-22, by Joseph Heller
• Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
• Animal Farm, by George Orwell
• The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway
• As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner
• A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway
• Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston
• Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
• Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
• Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
• For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway
• Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh

That’s a pretty impressive list of authors to be a part of.  I can remember when Perks was first published in 1999.  It was one of the first books to be published by MTV’s publishing house and upon publication it instantly drew comparisons from reviewers with another coming of age tale, The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger.  Perks is the story of Charlie, a unique boy starting his first year of high school and is told entirely through letters to an unknown recipient that Charlie simply addresses as “Friend.” Charlie has a hard time at first, and slowly, over the course of the novel, the reader learns things about Charlie’s past that might impact the way he behaves.  But eventually Charlie meets a group of seniors who take him under their wings, exposing him to all the fun life can offer, even when sadness might seem inevitable.  Charlie can sometimes be a challenging character to understand, but towards the end much is revealed about his past and how it affects his present and future.  When Perks was released it became a hit among teenagers and eventually found its way onto many required reading lists. Some adults did not like the novels frank discussion of real life experience and tried to (sometimes successfully) have it banned from the school or library.  Personally, as a teenager reading this book, I was glad that their was a story being told that I could relate to.  Charlie’s story may be unique but his feelings of teen angst are universal.  The recent release of the movie adaptation only reinforces that universality, as the movie is set in the late 90s, but feels like it could be about teenagers in 2012 (aside from the awesome retro soundtrack.) I believe that much of the success of the movie is due to the fact that the author, Stephen Chbosky, wrote and directed the movie, which allowed the film to stay true to its roots.